Daily Devotional

March 14

A First Book of Daily Readings

by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (selected by Frank Cumbers)

The unity of all who are "in Christ"

The unity itself is inevitable among all those who have been quickened by the Holy Spirit out of spiritual death and given new life in Christ Jesus; ... it is a unity which is produced by the Holy Spirit and by Him alone. Man cannot produce this, try as he may. Because of the nature of this unity, because it is a spiritual unity, it can be brought into being only as a result of the operation of the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle rejoices in this staggering fact, that these people who were once Jews and Gentiles are now one in Christ Jesus. They not only share the same life; they are agreed about their doctrine. They believe the same things, they are trusting to the same Person, and they know that He has saved them all in the same way. The "middle wall of partition" has gone. The Jews no longer pride themselves on the fact that they are Jews and that they had the law given to them, whereas the Gentiles were ignorant and were not in the unique position of being the people of God.

All these differences have gone, and they are one in seeing their lost estate and condition, their utter hopelessness and helplessness. They are united in their common trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who has purchased them at the cost of His own precious blood. So they are ready to listen to this exhortation which urges them to maintain with great diligence, to preserve and to guard, this unity into which they have been brought by the operation of the Holy Spirit of God.